My 9yo DS has started making a habit out of inturupting the lesson I am giving to talk about totally unrelated things. The majority of times it doesn't even have to do with school. When this initially started I explained to him that it was disrespectful. I have asked him before if he was back at his private school if he would interupt his teacher there to talk about (insert subject) and he always answers me NO. I have gone as far as giving him the assignment he needs to complete because he already must know the answers to it all if he doesn't need to listen to me and letting him fail. Nothing seems to make a difference to him. I am pulling my hair out. This disrespect has to STOP! I am at a loss of what to do next any suggestions?? I don't expect him to be silent the entire day and NEVER talk, but when I am teaching him something I want all attention on the work at hand.

I am using WWE with my 4th grader. We started at Level 1, doing 2 lessons a day, 3-4days a week. He is learning the importance of answering in complete sentences and listening skills. I decided to start from the beginning because Shurley English did a number on his confidence in writing. He probably would have done just fine on a higher level but this is GREAT for his confidence. When I let him choose which subject we do next he usually picks writing because, "It's so easy." He is very smart, but we needed to build back up the foundation before moving on. I think it can easily be adapted to your needs.

Thanks for sharing the site. Our national park has enough material to last us over a year. It even has really cute song and other activities. I have used the Jr. Ranger guide that most parks have as a teaching tool along with MANY field guides. DH has been the best teacher though. It amazes me how much he knows about the outdoors and our enviroment.

I agree 100% with what you said here. I personally would not go out and purchase them for her but I wouldn't try and stop her either. I'm sure she has been educated multiple times by her Drs. reguarding the dangers of her smoking and she has decided for herself what her actions will be. She is still an adult capable for making her own decisions I wouldn't interfere.

I know where I live if you join the farm bureau you can buy group health insurance through them. It has been years since I looked at the cost of the insurance, as I now have coverage through my work, but if I remeber correctly it was significantly cheaper than private insurance. Maybe you can look into something like that.

I cringed yesterday afternoon when FIL dropped by right before I was heading off to work. My house is NOT drop by ready. Actually, right now I have a load of papers spread acros my table that have needed to be graded forever.

:o We grew up flushing them and I have continued into adulthood. I guess my parents were lucky as they have only had the septic tank pumped once that I rmember over the last almost 2o years.

I've actually never reported posts, but as election time nears I have tried my best to stay off the General Board. I have found multiple posts throughout the month that are questionable. I notice that there a few people (from both parties) that post emotionally rather than factually. I have always been the type to shy away from conflict and these posts tend to make me VERY uncomfortable. I don't know if it's my vivid imagination but I feel if we were sitting in a room together discussing some of these topics voices would be raised and chairs would be flying. Jerry Springer was never the show for me.:tongue_smilie:

I think I always have baby fever. It really gets me when they are 3-8 month and start to smile and laugh.

The bribe that works best in our home is a fishing trip. We don't get to go as much as we would like so we all win.

Both the JCC and the community college in our are offer cooking classes. They are MUCH more expensive. These classes run for about 6-8weeks and usually have a theme. My DS wanted to take the basics class, but we decided he would learn just as much here in our home. I think cooking is a skill that will be used, so I wouldn't mind paying for some of the more advanced classes.

Thanks for sharing this! I didn't know it exsisted either.

We use Shurley English. It is a very thorough program. We attempted to switch over to Rod and Staff for 4th grade English but it seemed like it had an excess of busy work. I know many families do parts of Rod and Staff orally so that might help. We just don't need 12 sentences to drill the point.

My DS, after much begging, was placed into flute lessons last year. After only a month he wanted to switch instruments. I did not allow him to switch at the time and made him complete an entire year of lessons. During the year, it was power struggle to get him to practice. He did not improve much over the year and was only on page two of his lesson book when all was said and done. Now he has completed the year he still wants to switch instruments. I would really like him to learn an instrument but am afraid that he is going to give up like last time before he has a chance to improve. At what point do you allow for your child to change instruments? Should I treat the instrument as I would any other curriculum and just toss it if it doesn't click for my DS or is it something that will grow on him?

If you look on the top of the board you will see a post about this. From what I read they are working on it though.

We started last year cutting down on Christmas presents. The grown-ups on my side of the family exchange names. There are nine of us so you can imagine the cost of gift giving if we didn't exchange names. DH is an only child so we just have his parents to shop for. Being that my DS is the only child on either side he gets more presents than one child could ever use. This year I hope to be able to purchase him one large present and maybe a few smaller things. We are down to one paycheck so we will keep things tight.

I do not require uniforms but I have noticed a difference in my son's attitude once I started making him get dressed for school. When we first started I allowed him to just get up and start school in his pjs. He was way too relaxed and it showed in his attitude and work. My DS loves his homeschool t-shirts and to him those are his "uniform".

Yes, I am talking about the newer books. Was there something specific that you did not like about the other books?

Bumping

I was wondering if anyone one has used R&S Science and would be willing to share their thoughts on it. We are currently in our second year of Abeka and still not loving it. I have had the opportunity to take a look at the 5th grade science book and it seems like it would be a better match but I would really appreciate to hear from someone who has actually used it. Any thoughts?

I tend to order all the recommended books from the activity guide with the knowledge we will not be reading all of them. I pick one or two which I feel are most important and assign them to be read. After that DS is allowed to pick which ones he would like to read. When the chapter is finished we go through the books and return the ones that have been read as well as the ones he has no desire to read. If there are books left over that he still wishes to read they become part of his "fun reading" time. We continue on to the next chapter and the cycle repeats itself. However, if there is a subject he is especially interested in we tend to stop and allow for further time to explore it. We spent almost two month studying the Egyptians.

I'm excited to hear that amazon is sending them out. I can't wait for mine to arrive. We are reviewing WWE level 1 and it is definitely building confidence back in my very reluctant writer. Before this we were doing the writing in his Shurley English books but it was way too much and we had tears every Friday when it was time for writing.

DS has been breezing through SWO D up until about a 3-4 weeks ago when we started with possessives. He is able to spell the words but he is struggling with figuring out if they are singular or plural possessives. He knows the rule of where the apostrophe is suppose to go but when test time comes he isn't able to pick up on the clues. We are both becoming very frustrated. I have tried to explain this to him numerous times but he is struggling to master this. I'm wondering if it is better to move on and return to this lesson at a later time. Has anyone else had a problem teaching this? Any suggestions on how best to deal with this? I know he is really trying but I see him losing confidence in himself.

I wanted to thank everyone who answered. Although I don't have as much time as I would like to browse the boards, I love it here. I am always shocked at just how much homeschool information is on the web that I have yet to discover.

I would like to find a 4th grade reading list somewhere or possibly compile my own. I usually just use Sonlights but this year not even half of the books are at our local library. Being that we are on one income now things are really tight so if at all possible I would like to utilize my library. Does anyone know of a website that has a list already or want to throw out suggestions of books? :001_smile: